The Value of Networking Your Brand

Networking can be an effective tool for promoting, marketing and sharing your personal brand. It allows you to meet and connect with like minded individuals and develop quality relationships. It also helps you create the right contacts for growing a viable and profitable network. Last but not least, it allows you to communicate your mission, goals and passions for success.

Listed below are tips and practical ways that savvy networkers can increase their brand proposition.

Activate Your Brand

In order to build a credible and reliable personal brand, you need to be active in your networking activities. Generally, this means staying consistent and intentional in your endeavors. Whether you feel comfortable connecting via in person or online, have a plan and put it into action. Make sure to follow up and follow through. Set up meetings, additional ways to stay in touch in person or online and build your personal brand with others. Show commitment and integrity in your dealings and interactions.

Establish Your Brand

As you develop your relationships, focus on building a strong personal brand. Explore various avenues of expressing your personal brand within your communications styles. What makes you unique and differentiates you from your colleagues or competitors? What skills, abilities or talents make you passionate in your career, business or academics? What do things do people associate you with, when your name comes to mind? By answering these questions, you are gaining a greater understanding of the value of your brand.

Execute Your Brand

Your personal brand can be a powerful for growing your networks. Use it as a touch point for conversations and finding opportunities. Show the relevance of it whenever you go to events, meetings and functions. Incorporate it into your elevator pitch, resume / bio, business cards and other marketing tools and materials. Make every effort to reinforce its worth and significance.

Use these tips to add more value and increase the dynamics of your connections. Along with your communication styles and marketing efforts, create relationships that improve your networks.

Computer Literacy

Once, the thought was that only businesses had a need to use computers. Therefore, computer literacy was not necessary or required of the layperson. The average person only needed to learn and do what their corporate or organizational bosses told them.

Outside of work, a desktop (personal) computer was simply the next new electronic gadget for the home. A personal computer was for convenience and fun, and not a necessary requirement of everyday living.

Now days, if you lack computer knowledge and skills you may start to suffer low self-esteem, especially when you see the young and the elderly possessing such skill and knowledge.

You now find the use of computer technology in almost everything you do - all day, everyday. In fact, some high-end automates seem to require more than a little understanding of computer technology in order to understand the operational and programming functions.

Banks and other financial institutions may soon require some activities to take place on-line (for example, receiving e-bank statements), or you will pay a fee for an alternate method such as postal mail.

The younger you are the more difficulties you will experience in the future, if you do not possess a working (and constantly increasing) knowledge of computers. Improve your computer literacy and your self-esteem will certainly improve.

Those in the fifty plus generation, due to longer life expectancy, may also have trouble if they do not become computer literate.

In addition to self-esteem and lifestyle reasons, there are two other reasons why you should become computer literate.

Mental Health :

Studying computers will stimulate and challenge your mind. Learning all about computers will force your mind into a higher level of mental activity. In so doing, you strengthen brain cells and nerve connections. As a result, you maintain a higher level of mental alertness long into your later years. Vigorously exercising your mind, regardless of age, is necessary for long-term mental health, and for living a more vivid and fulfilling life.

Increase your computer literacy. Create a desire to learn all you can about computers. You could start by taking a class at a senior plus center or the continuing education division of a local college or university, or simply self teach. It is never too late to start.

Money :

a) The more you know about computers the more valuable you become to your employer. Your increased value could lead to job security and sometimes promotional opportunities.

b) Earn extra income by helping others with their computer problems. More and more people are buying computers. A fast growing trend is the need for inexpensive home visits to assist people (an aging population) with understanding computers, solving a wide range of computer problems, setting up a home computer network, and internet security.

Now you have it! Whatever you become computer literate for reasons of lifestyle, mental health, to make money, to improve your self-esteem, or any other reason, you absolutely benefit. You can not lose.

Analysis of a Prayer For My Daughter - W B Yeats

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), the celebrated Irish poet, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, needs no introduction. The Irish identity was very strong in him and as an active member of the Irish National Revival, he tried his best to add Celtic legends to evoke the glorious past of his land. In a time when the world was much fragmented, he endeavored to create a unified perspective of things that is cohesive and all encompassing. The poem is an intense expression of how Yeats felt after his daughter Anne was born although the ideas conveyed go far beyond the personal.   

Theme of the Poem

The poem portrays how a father, who has been blessed with a daughter, prays for the future happiness and welfare of her. The poet hopes that instead of growing up to be a very beautiful woman, his daughter should be blessed with the attributes of a virtuous and great soul. She should be well-mannered and full of humility rather than being strongly opinionated, to avoid intellectual detestation because that can drown her in misery.

Summary

In the beginning, Yeats talks about the storm having commenced brewing in the seas. Between his newly born daughter and the sea, there stand a bare hill and Gregory's woods which might not thwart the storm from reaching the helpless infant. The father is naturally worried as he senses the gale striking the tower and the undersides of the bridges. To his mind, the storm presages the future of her daughter having arrived with a rage, mounting from the seeming innocence of the sea. As a father, the poet wishes beauty for her daughter but not such voluptuousness that would engross others to distraction or make her vain.

He does not want her daughter to be bereft of kindness nor does he want her to fail in choosing the persons with whom she will be friendly. The father shudders at the thought of her daughter's turning to be another Helen of Troy, who couldn't help being unfaithful as she was so beautiful. Some lovely women like the queen who had not had her father imposing useful restraints upon her, chose an ordinary smith with warped legs, instead of marrying a handsome yet virtuous man matching her handsome looks and social standing. It is strange how exquisitely beautiful women often choose 'a crazy salad' (an undeserving husband) to go 'with their meat' (rich food or their great beauty).

His daughter should realize that she should be deserving of winning human hearts. She should not be like those crafty women who employ their charms to use people to their advantage. It is true that men fall head over heels for stunning females but it is really the compassion of the women which they get enamored by in the end. The father in the poet is keen that her daughter should be like a tree giving succour and shade to people when she grows up and her feelings should be like the sweet song of the linnet that spreads joy for the sake of doing so. It is very likely that she will sometime desire something intensely in a wrong spirit or engage in some strife at times but let them be transient and not very serious. Let her be like an evergreen tree; let her send her roots into the depth of her good convictions standing at the same place.

The poet is rueful that his running after the people he liked or the kind of gorgeousness that he was infatuated with, could not satiate him as he wanted and that he is weary of all the barrenness that has enveloped him now. He seems to get momentarily confused as to what could be the right sort of beauty. He has however no hatred toward anyone as he is absolutely sure that it is the worst kind of malevolence that could poison his life. He wants her daughter also to learn this truth before she allows her to be ruled by the negative force of hatred because such a mindset will save her from inviting harsh criticism or abuses being showered upon her. The poet would not like her daughter to be self-opinionated as that could lead her to practising intellectual loathing which the poet considers to be the worst kind of malady in a human being.

He recollects coming in close contact with a beautiful and accomplished woman who had to give away everything by being strongly biased. The truth rings clearly in the poet's mind that by removing all hatred from one's mind, the soul not only regains its innocence but also embarks on the journey of delighting in itself. Since the spirit of the soul is the will of God, he fervently prays that his daughter should be able to discover her soul and be happy in the face of any storm or disapproval. And finally, as a father, he hopes that she will be betrothed to a man who has for ever steered away from detestation and arrogance which is so common everywhere. Let the house of her husband be comfortable and secure but not at the expense of anyone.

©SOMNATH MITRA 2010

Different Kinds of Art

There are many different kinds of art. Some of the different kinds of art include original art, modern paintings, and art from the Impressionist era. Art that is original, by definition, is work that is one-of-a-kind and it can be any kind of art, not just a painting as long as it was created by the real artist himself or herself. Modern art is, by definition, art "of the present times." Finally, impressionist artwork is work in which the artist paints the picture as if he or she has just something very quickly. Art is one of the best ways to lose yourself in your thoughts, either when creating it or when viewing it.

Original art is the one-of-a-kind painting or work done by an artist. Original art is anything that is done by the artists themselves. Replicas of famous paintings like the Mona Lisa have been created, but it is easy for art connoisseurs to know what the real piece looks like. The best form of art is in its original form. Usually the original pieces of famous paintings can be found in museums all around the world. For example, the "Mona Lisa" is located at the Louvre in Paris, along with other Da Vinci works.

The contemporary art era is defined as any kind of modern art created from the 1900s to the present. This type of work wave artists the freedom to call almost anything art. It also created an escape from political and social turmoil through the ages. Some of the different categories of modern art include expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Contemporary artists include artists such as Andy Warhol, Georgia O'Keefe, and Pablo Picasso, to name a few. Contemporary art sees to be a form that people either really love or really dislike. Probably the most interesting thing about contemporary art is that it can be anything. Before contemporary art, there were strict rules about what could and could not be art. After the modern art came along there were no boundaries anymore.

Surprisingly enough, impressionism is a form of contemporary art. Impressionist art is supposedly to be an image of something as if the person had just seen it briefly. It began in France, during the nineteenth century. Impressionist art features bright colors and scenes from outside. Impressionist art also focuses on real-life images and does not focus on the details of painting. Impressionist era painters include famous artists like Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

These kinds of art are only three of numerous different types of artwork. Original and contemporary art have only recently become popular, where impressionist art has been consistently popular ever since it's beginning in France. Anytime you are able to see great art by visiting a museum, you should take advantage of the opportunity. Viewing different kinds of art allows you to see what type of person you are. Creating art and viewing art are also great ways to lose yourself in your thoughts.

What Is Insurance?

As we know one way of risk prevention is to insure a risk to the insurance company. This method is considered the most important method in tackling risk. Therefore many people think that risk management is the same as insurance. Although the actual circumstances are not so.

Insurance means the insurance transaction, which involves two parties, the insured and the insurer. Where the insurer guarantees the insured person, that he will be reimbursed for a loss which he may suffer, as a result of an event that would not necessarily occur or which could not be determined when or when it occurred. As the insured in the obligation to pay some money to the insurer, the amount of proportion of the sum insured, commonly called "premium".

Viewed from several angles, the insurance has a variety of goals and techniques of splitting, among others:

A. From an economic perspective, then:
The goal:
Reducing the uncertainty of the results of operations undertaken by a person or company in order to meet the needs or achieves goals.

Technique:
By transferring the risk to the other party and the other party combining a reasonable amount of risk, so it can be estimated with more precise the magnitude of the possibility of loss.

B. In terms of Law, then:
The goal:
Transferring the risks faced by an object or a business activity to another party.

Technique:
Through premium payments by the insured to the insurer in the indemnity contract (insurance policy), then the risk of transferring to the insurer.

C. In terms of Trade, then:
The goal:
Share the risks faced to all participants of the insurance program.

Technique:
Transferred risk from individuals / companies to financial institutions engaged in risk management (insurance companies), which will share the risk to all participants of the insurance it handles.

D. From a societal standpoint, then:
The goal:
Bear losses jointly among all participants of the insurance program.

Technique:
All group members (group members) of the insurance program contribute (in the form of promotions) to sympathize losses suffered by a / some of its members.

E. In terms of Mathematics, then:
The goal:
Predict the magnitude of the possibility of risk and the income of the forecast is used to divide the risk to all participants (group of participants) insurance program.

Technique:
Calculates the probability based on probability theory ("Probability Theory"), performed by the actuary as well as by the underwriter.

Nokia N95: An Ultimate Multimedia Computer

Wondering where to look for buying mobile phones? You do not need to worry; online mobile shops are the best option for you. Here you are constantly loaded with offers like free mobile phones, cash backs, free minutes, etc.

Nokia is coming up with a new range of mobile phones that combine high-tech features and style. The all-in-one multimedia computer, Nokia N95, has an innovative two-way slide concept and is equipped with outstanding multimedia features. The powerful 3D graphics, stunning user interface, fast speed data transfer, sophisticated multimedia capabilities, innovative imaging options, high speed internet access, are some of the features of N95. The powerful 3D graphics make it easy to find the services and features you want. The combination of features like built-in stereo speakers, mini USB and support for compatible microSD cards add more to the multimedia phone.

Play your favorite tracks and store them in the MP3 player, take high quality photos and video clips and still photos with the 5 megapixel camera and enhance your visual experience with the large color display. The handset lets you enjoy images and video clips on the larger screen of a compatible television set through the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technology.

The best part of the handset is its ability to provide fast and enjoyable internet access and download large files to your mobile phone. What's more !! You can even check your emails on the move that makes it a useful device for professional and business users.

The Nokia N95 can certainly replace the stand-alone gadgets like music players, PDA'S, and digital cameras. Combining all the essential functionalities needed today, this perfect gadget lets you access diverse fields of entertainment and business applications.
With all the wonderful features and excellent design, the Nokia N95 helps you stay connected. All in all, the N95 appears to pack the latest features that are a must have in today's mobile phones.

7 Reasons Why I Love My Netbook

Netbooks are awesome little devices and they come real handy when your work involves you moving around town. Even if you do not do that often, but want something that you can pass time with while waiting for the doctor or your order to arrive in a restaurant you'll still make good use of one. Here is my list of reasons I'd never get rid of my netbook for.

I just love my netbook and not because it was cheap, that was just a result of components used and fairly low overall performance. It allows me to do things I thought were not possible or did not even occur to me when I had a much bulkier Fujitsu Siemens pi3540. Just look it up, 7.4 pounds, imagine carrying that around.

1. It's small. It's not just small but tiny to the extent where it's not even viewed a full size computer anymore. It almost fits the pockets of one of my jeans, and it quickly disappears in the 15.6 "pouch I have in my backpack.

2. It works for a long-long time on a single charge. How comfortable is that? I just throw it on charger when I go to sleep, or in the morning if I forget it and it's fully charged when I'm heading to work.

3. Accessories are cheap. Everything it's missing by factory default can be had for peas. An external optical drive costs $ 40, a pendrive comes for $ 20 and I got a sleeve for $ 10 off Amazon. Everything is small everything is cheap.

4. It's put together. I do not have much personal experience with other models on the long run, but I can say with confidence that this Asus 1005HA is built for longevity. I do not throw it around or anything like that, but it's had about 2300 hours of use put into it and there is no sign of deterioration other than some wear on the keys.

5. Keys. They're awesome. I thought I'll have problems with typing because I have average male size hands. Good news, this is of no concern with this particular model, others I tried were not as promising but whatever works for you.

6. I can use it on public transportation. I know I already mentioned that it's small but think about it on a different level. Imagine a laptop that truly fits your lap without stretching over it anywhere. I do not think I could work using a full size notebook on a bus.

7. I know I said I do not love it because it's cheap. Actually I do. Can you get a better computer for portable use for $ 300 brand new? Probably a refurbished one, but I'm not completely sure about that.